A reading from the prophet Daniel (13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62)
In Babylon there lived a man named Joakim. He married a woman called Susanna, daughter of Hilkiah, a woman of great beauty and one who revered God. Her parents were righteous and had instructed their daughter in the Law of Moses. Joakim was a very rich man and had a garden adjoining his house; a considerable number of the Jews used to visit him, since he was held in greater respect than anyone else.
Two elders had been elected from the people that year to act as judges. About them the Lord had said, ‘Wickedness came out from Babylon from elders who were judges, who were supposed to govern the people.’ These men were often at Joakim’s house and all who had a case to be judged used to come to them. At midday, when the people had gone away, Susanna would take a walk in her husband’s garden. The two elders used to watch her every day as she went in to take her walk and began to lust after her. They threw reason aside, making no effort to turn their eyes to heaven and forgetting the demands of virtue. So it happened that they were waiting for a favourable moment; and one day Susanna came as usual, accompanied only by two young maidservants. The day was hot and she wanted to bathe in the garden. There was no one about except the two elders, spying on her from their hiding place. She said to the servants, ‘Bring me some oil and balsam and shut the garden door while I bathe.’
Hardly were the maids gone when the two elders sprang up and rushed on her, saying, ‘Look, the garden doors are shut, no one can see us. We want to have you, so agree and lie with us! Otherwise we will give evidence against you that a young man was with you and that was why you sent your maids away.’ Susanna groaned and said, ‘I am trapped. If I agree, it means death for me; if I refuse, I cannot escape your hands. I would rather refuse and fall into your hands than sin in the eyes of the Lord.’ Then she cried out at the top of her voice. The two elders began shouting too, against her. One of them ran to open the garden doors. When the people in the house heard the shouting in the garden, they rushed out by the side entrance to see what had happened to her. Once the elders had told their story, the servants were thoroughly ashamed, because nothing of this sort had ever been said of Susanna.
Next day, as the people gathered at the house of her husband Joakim, the two elders arrived, full of their wicked plan against Susanna, to have her put to death. Before all the people they said, ‘Send for Susanna daughter of Hilkiah and wife of Joakim.’ She was sent for and came accompanied by her parents, her children and all her relations.
Her own people were weeping and so were all the others who saw her. The two elders stood up with all the people round them, and laid their hands on her head. Tearfully she turned her eyes to heaven, her heart confident in God. Then the elders spoke, ‘While we were walking by ourselves in the garden, this woman arrived with two young maidservants. She shut the garden door and then dismissed the servants. A young man who had been hiding went over to her and lay down with her. From the corner of the garden where we were, we saw this wickedness taking place and ran towards them. Though we saw them embracing, we could not overpower the man, as he was too strong for us; he opened the door and got away. We did, however, get hold of this woman and ask her who the young man was. She refused to tell us. That is our evidence.’
Since they were elders of the people and judges, the assembly accepted their word: Susanna was condemned to death. She cried out at the top of her voice, ‘Eternal God, you know all secrets and everything before it happens; you know that these men have given false evidence against me. And now I am to die, innocent as I am of everything their malice has invented against me!’ The Lord heard her cry and, as she was being led away to die, he roused the holy spirit residing in a young boy called Daniel who shouted at the top of his voice, ‘I am innocent of this woman’s blood!’ All the people turned to him and asked, ‘What do you mean by that?’ Standing in the middle of the crowd, he replied, ‘Are you such fools, children of Israel, as to condemn a daughter of Israel without examination and without clear evidence? Go back to the scene of the trial: the evidence these men have given against her is false.’
The whole people hurried back, and the elders said to Daniel, ‘Come and sit with us and explain to us, since God has given you the standing of an elder.’ Daniel said, ‘Keep the men well apart from each other, and I will examine them.’
When the men had been separated from each other, Daniel summoned one of them and said, ‘You have grown old in wickedness and now the sins of your earlier days have caught up with you, your unjust judgements, your condemnation of the innocent, your acquittal of the guilty, although the Lord has said, “You shall not put to death the innocent and righteous.” Now then, since you saw her so clearly, tell me under what sort of tree you saw them lying.’ He replied, ‘Under a gum tree.’ Daniel said, ‘Your lie deservedly recoils on your own head: the angel of God has already received your sentence from him and will cut you in half.’ Putting the man to one side, he ordered the other to be brought and said to him, ‘Son of Canaan, not of Judah, beauty has seduced you, lust has led your heart astray! This is how you have been behaving with the daughters of Israel and they have been so frightened that they went along with you. But now a daughter of Judah would not tolerate your wickedness! Now then, tell me under what sort of tree you caught them.’ He replied, ‘Under an evergreen oak tree.’ Daniel said, ‘Your lie deservedly recoils on your own head too: the angel of God is waiting with a sword to cut you in half and destroy the pair of you.’
Then the whole assembly raised a great shout, blessing God, the Saviour of those who trust in him. And they turned on the two elders whom Daniel had convicted of false evidence out of their own mouths. As the Law of Moses prescribes, they were given the same punishment as they had schemed to inflict on their neighbour. They were put to death. And thus, that day, innocent blood was saved.
This story is one of the later additions in the Greek language to the Book of Daniel. While Daniel in the traditions of the Hebrew Bible is a visionary and interpreter of dreams, in this extra chapter of the book he is a figure of wisdom. Despite his youth he can see more clearly than others. Susanna, daughter of a righteous and God-fearing Jewish family living in Babylon, is nevertheless accused by the elders, who abuse their position of prestige in the community to satisfy their own worst desires. But wisdom triumphs through the simple ploy of the young Daniel, whose name means ‘judgement of God’.
Psalm 23 (22) Even though she walked in the ‘valley of death’ Susanna’s trust in the Lord is rewarded.
In Years A and B the gospel is that for the Fifth Sunday of Lent Year C (given above).
In Year C the following gospel is read.
A reading from the holy gospel according to John (8:12-20)
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying:
‘I am the light of the world;
anyone who follows me
will not be walking in the dark,
but will have the light of life.’
So the Pharisees said to him, ‘You are witnessing on your own behalf; your witness is not true.’ Jesus replied:
‘Even though I witness on my own behalf,
my witness is true, because I know
where I have come from and where I am going;
but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.
You judge by human standards; I judge no one,
but if I judge, my judgement is true,
because I am not alone, but I and the Father who sent me.
In your Law it is written
that the witness of two people is true.
I witness on my own behalf,
but the Father who sent me witnesses on my behalf, too.’
They asked him, ‘Where is your Father?’
Jesus answered:
‘You do not know me, nor do you know my Father;
if you did know me, you would know my Father as well.’
He spoke these words in the Treasury, while teaching in the Temple.
No one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.
Jesus is in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, which involves the lighting of candles. Jesus declares that he is ‘the light of the world’. He is the light which ‘darkness cannot overpower’ (John 1:5). As long as he is in the world he is ‘the light of the world’ (John 9:5). Once again the opponents of Jesus complain that he witnesses on his own behalf. As he did after the healing of the paralysed man (John 5:31), Jesus declares that the witness on whom he relies is the Father. But the Father is not known by those to whom he is talking here: ‘You do not know me, nor do you know my Father.’
We can only come to know the Father through Jesus.
Pray for those who dismiss the wisdom which comes from God through Jesus.